The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,35

at me, tell me you don’t think about how I kidnapped Ivy? Tell me you don’t think about all those Order members I killed with my own hands. Tell me—”

“I do,” I admitted, flinching. “I do think of those things, but I also realize it wasn’t your fault. You had no control. You didn’t have a choice,” I repeated, meaning it.

“And you were outnumbered by creatures a hundred times stronger and faster than you,” he said, meeting my gaze. “What could you have done differently?”

“If I had been better trained, I could’ve fought back,” I said without a second of hesitation.

He stared at me for a long moment. “Even better trained, you most likely would’ve died, sunshine. You have a soul of a warrior, but that is not enough.”

A soul of a warrior?

That was… that was kind of a nice thing to say.

“You need to stop this, Brighton.”

Biting down on the inside of my lip, I looked away as I shook my head. “Are you going to stop looking for Aric? Are you going to move and take the higher road and not seek revenge?”

“I’m different.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why? Because you’re the Prince?”

The faint smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes.”

Irritated that he understood why I needed to do what I had to, but was trying to stop me, I threw up my hands. “You can’t stop me.”

He arched a brow at that as he sat back. “I can stop you.”

Caring and sharing time was so over. “You know what? I don’t even get why you care. We barely know each other. You’re the Prince, and I’m just… I’m just me. I’m a—” I almost blurted out ghost, but stopped myself.

“You’re what?” Curiosity crept into his features.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I appreciate your concern. I do. It’s unexpected, but I appreciate it. It’s not going to change—”

“You’re what?” he repeated.

Pressing my lips together, I shook my head in frustration.

“What were you about to say?” he persisted.

“I’m just a ghost,” I blurted out, surprised that I allowed the words to take flight, because once spoken, you couldn’t take it back. “That’s who I was before the attack and…”

He was watching me intently. “And you’re not a ghost anymore?”

“I don’t know what I am anymore,” I admitted, blinking back the stupid burn of tears again. “And I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. I don’t even like you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“You know? You’re right. And no matter what you say, you don’t know me either.” I started for the door. “I’m done with this conversation. I’m done with your interference. You do whatever you want to do and I’ll do whatever I need to do. Goodbye, Prince.”

“You’re right.” A muscle flexed a long his jaw. “You’re just a human,” he said, and the way he said that made the word human sound like a venereal disease. “In your own words, you’re already half dead. I won’t stop you from finishing that job.”

Chapter 13

The Prince’s parting words stung more than they should have as I stared at him. There was a part of me, a stupid, tiny part of me that was hurt by those words. The rational part of me knew that was stupid because I’d called myself a ghost.

But to hear him say it?

Brighton from two years ago would’ve never found herself in this situation in the first place, but if she did, she would’ve definitely run from the room to lick her wounds no matter how stupid those wounds were.

But I wasn’t her.

And I might not know what the hell I was anymore, but in that moment, I wasn’t a ghost. Not anymore.

I met his gaze and then smiled as I slowly lifted my hand and flipped him off.

His nostrils flared.

With that, I pivoted around and stalked out of the weird room with my head high. The moment I yanked open the stupid door, my mind immediately went berserko on me, replaying every word we exchanged.

My head was a freaking mess as I slammed the door shut behind me, mainly because I’d never shared with anyone else what I shared with him. I had no explanation for why, none that made sense at least. I couldn’t even believe that I’d spoken those words to him. Embarrassment rose as I stalked down the dark hallway, toward where I remembered the stairway was, hearing the thump of music once again. As I opened the door, I briefly fantasized about racing back into that room and spin